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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23164942">Haruno</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/thatdamnuchiha/pseuds/thatdamnuchiha'>thatdamnuchiha</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>MadaSaku Week 2020 [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Naruto</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst, BAMF Haruno Sakura, Canon-Typical Violence, F/M, Female Friendship, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Founding of Konoha, Friendship, Growing Up, Haruno Clan-centric, Haruno Sakura-centric, Humor, Hunted, It's not that obvious of a one though, Kekkei Genkai | Bloodline Limit, MadaSaku Week, MadaSaku Week 2020, Madara won't appear for like... at least ten chapters if not more, Male-Female Friendship, POV Haruno Sakura, Pre-Konoha Village, Rivalry, Sakura has a Rival, Slow Build, Slow Burn, Strong Haruno Sakura, The Haruno are a Clan, The Haruno have a Kekkei Genkai, Time Travel, Time Travel Fix-It, Warring States Period (Naruto), Worldbuilding, clan wars, dare I say... an ETERNAL Rival, of sorts</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-03-16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-07-21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-01 12:47:20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>4,546</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23164942</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/thatdamnuchiha/pseuds/thatdamnuchiha</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Contrary to popular belief, the Haruno family were technically a clan – one with a secret tied very close to their chests. To be a clan, one either had to have a certain number of skilled shinobi in their ranks or they had to possess a kekkei genkai. The Haruno Clan belonged to the latter category.</p><p>Though it wasn’t something Sakura paid much attention to, until she wound up punted into another body – one belonging to a Haruno Sakura in an alternate dimension. Only her new dimension wasn’t in the same era as her previous one. The Warring Clans Era was something Sakura had only read about in books, but now she has to live through it. But there’s more to things than simply survival, because there’s a reason the Haruno Clan faded into nonexistence after the Warring Clans Era in her original dimension. </p><p>She just needs to ensure the same things she’s heard about don’t happen again, otherwise it’s doubtful she’ll live to her twenty-fifth birthday.</p><p> </p><p>  <strong>Day 2 (16/3)</strong><br/><strong>•	Warring States AU</strong><br/><strong>•	Hunted</strong><br/><strong>•	“Marry me.”</strong></p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Haruno Sakura/Uchiha Madara, Minor or Background Relationship(s), Senju Hashirama/Uzumaki Mito, Senju Tobirama/Original Female Character(s), Senju Tobirama/Original Hatake Character(s)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>MadaSaku Week 2020 [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1664476</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>36</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>472</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Of Tales and Tears, The Many Iterations of Haruno Sakura</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. The Kekkei Genkai</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>OK, so here's the resulting fic for day two of MadaSaku Week, and this one might have painfully slow updates... since it's a biggie. Honestly, I have no idea why I try to start so many long fics. Oh well, enjoy.</p><p>Day 2 (16/3)<br/>•	Warring States AU<br/>•	Hunted<br/>•	“Marry me.”</p><p>All three prompts will feature in this fic. Though the third will come around much later... since... worldbuilding and childhood friendships take priority.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>She never thought the knowledge her mother and father passed onto her would come in handy. The tales were just there to scare her – days like those ones for the Haruno Clan, now the Haruno Family with a single sole family line remaining, were long gone. <em>There was a reason the Haruno Clan had faded into nonexistence – a reason the remaining members were in hiding. </em>Not that anyone really remembered about the quiet little clan who’d once lived in the mountains between the regions of the Land of Frost and the Land of Hot Water. <em>And apparently that was a good thing.</em></p><p><em>Still</em>, Sakura mused, kneeling atop the cushion, staring out across the sea of pink-haired adults who varied between speaking with her <em>new </em>father and cooing at all her three-year-old adorableness, <em>those tales she’d listened to were never supposed to become her reality. </em>One mission gone wrong was all it had taken. She had made a minor error, and she’d died as a result of it.</p><p>Only to wake up as one Haruno Sakura yet again.</p><p>There were some differences though, the timeline being the main one. She’d been born smack bang in the centre of the Haruno Clan’s troubles – a time when Haruno were hunted. <em>In the middle of the Warring Clans Era. </em>Moping and whining about things had never served her well, so it didn’t take her too long to adjust to her new life. New body, new outlook. That was her way of thinking. She was the sole daughter of the Clan Head, and she had three older brothers to take care of. <em>Though it was more of them doing the taking care of at that moment in time.</em></p><p>“Happy birthday, imouto,” Itsuki, her eldest brother, spoke, pulling her out of her thoughts and back onto what was meant to be both her birthday and her introduction to the clan. “This is just a little something from me,” he said, placing the small box in her equally small hands, before erupting in a fit of coughing.</p><p>Sakura patted his back gently, helping him sit down – more by clearing a space for him, but she supposed it was helpful in some way as he took a seat. “Thanks Suki-nii!” she chirped, smiling up at him, smirking internally as his face softened. <em>She’d find a cure for his illness, whatever it was. Of that, Sakura was determined. </em></p><p>Haruno Itsuki was ill – had been ever since he was a young child, and it was the main reason her father had skipped him over for the clan’s future leadership. He was being groomed into being an advisor though, and Sakura supposed it suited him more. <em>He wouldn’t have been able to handle the strain of leading their clan with his weak body. </em>Stress was never a good combination with that constitution. Instead, the duty of Clan Heirship fell to her second oldest brother, Haruno Raiden. <em>He’d been born in the middle of one of the worst thunderstorms their region had ever seen, or so she heard, hence his name. </em>Though luckily his birth didn’t seem to have any complications on his health, unlike Itsuki. He was even quieter than their sick brother surprisingly enough, and he had already silently given her the present he’d prepared.</p><p>“Are you enjoying your celebration?” Itsuki glanced at her, long pale pink hair tied back in low ponytail. “This is your first time seeing everyone…”</p><p>“This is all our clan?” she queried, staring at the two-hundred odd people, biting her lip as she looked at all of them, young and old, scared and unmarred. Though surprisingly enough, there weren’t very many people with scars or the like.</p><p>“That’s correct,” he said, hand mussing her hair as he sat by her side. “These are the people your brother will be looking after eventually… well, so long as he keeps making it home…” Itsuki whispered, staring down at his hands.</p><p>“Raiden-nii always makes it back,” Sakura said matter-of-factly. “He’s strong.”</p><p>Itsuki only sighed, ruffling her hair affectionately. “There are always those who are stronger out there, imouto,” he said, and Sakura leant against him. “It’s a fact of life… We should just pray he doesn’t encounter someone such as that.”</p><p>Sakura pouted, fiddling with the wrapped box in her hands. “Imma be awesomely strong too!”</p><p>Her brother raised an eyebrow at the unfamiliar word. “Awesomely?”</p><p>“Incredibly!” Sakura confirmed. “I’ll punch all the baddies away and make them fly!”</p><p>Itsuki chuckled, patting her head yet again. “I will be waiting for the day you do, imouto dearest,” he murmured, glancing up into the sky which was slowly darkening as time passed them by. The mountains and forests around them were beautiful in the moonlight and the sunlight. But beautiful as they were, they were also the very things that kept them safe from any more kidnapping or assassination attempts than usual. <em>There was usually at least one attempt a month.</em> “Until then, though, will you keep your anija company?”</p><p>“Un!” Sakura smiled, staring up into the cloudless sky, sighing quietly as she wondered how long the fragile peace around them would last.</p><p>Raiden was barely nine-years-old, Itsuki only being five years older than him, and they were both already shouldering the burdens of responsibility – whether it be through their uncle’s tutoring for her oldest brother, or her father’s training drills for her next two brothers.</p><p>Sakura glanced out across the sea of pink-haired and other pale colours, eyeing Kousuke, the only other of her brothers. He was three years older than her, and he was already being trained in the art of war. Sighing, she snuggled further into her brother’s side. Soon she would have to grow up for a second time and face a crueller and harsher world than previous. <em>Not that she’d spent the last three years being idle. </em>There was plenty of preparations for her to do, even if all her hard work sometimes kept her up until midnight. <em>And electricity wasn’t all that common, so lightbulbs were a precious commodity and only used in places of importance – like the rooms in the main household, and the little hospital too. </em>She was stuck to oil lamps in her bedroom, and she had to be careful, especially with all the flammable fabrics around. Though she supposed it was why she was becoming so determined to improve her sealing capabilities. <em>A seal that could produce a steady outflow of light, its source perhaps drawn directly from the ever-present nature chakra all around them.</em> That would be something really rather handy until supplies of electricity and cabling became more prominent in their backwater village. But sealing had been more of Naruto’s thing, though he’d certainly taught her a few things, and now Sakura was trying her best to apply them. <em>No matter the occasional loss of eyebrows and the explosions that blasted the woods she tested her seals out in. </em>Not that she’d been able to test many.</p><p>“Sakura-hime…”</p><p>Blinking, Sakura stared up at the elderly woman making her way over towards her. “May I help you, obaa-san?” She stood, feeling the slight flush as the older woman showed deference towards her. <em>It felt weird to have respect she hadn’t earned. Yet. </em>Her back straightened, and she waited for the woman to say her piece.</p><p>“Such a polite one,” the woman murmured with a smile, and Sakura tried not to seem too impatient. <em>Patience had never been a particularly strong point about her. </em>“I simply wished to enquire whether you were enjoying your celebration. There are many children here who wish to meet with the princess of our clan. Will you not indulge them?”</p><p>“I am keeping Itsuki-nii company, otherwise he’d be lonely,” she chirped, glaring at the elderly woman ever so slightly. “If the other children wish to meet me, then they may join me if they so desire.” Her eyes flickered over to the gaggle of children around Kousuke, some of which were no doubt sucking up to him as a possible leader of the clan on behalf of their parents. <em>Politics were a pain sometimes, and she was more than happy to stay out of .</em> “Besides, unfortunately I am not dressed to be playing around.”</p><p>“I see. Perhaps next time. My grandson is eager to meet you…”</p><p>Sakura’s eyes narrowed. <em>So that was her game. </em>“Perhaps I may see him around if fate allows it so. Thank you for coming to my birthday party obaa-san.”</p><p>Itsuki’s arm came around her petite body, hand winding up in her lap as the old lady walked away after her blatant dismissal. “You handled that well, dear imouto. Scarily well… I have the strangest feeling you will do well by our clan when given the chance,” he said, fingers tracing her cheek. “I only hope you are not introduced to the outside world and given that chance a little too soon.”</p><p>“It’s OK, anija,” she said, smiling up at him, eyes as sharp as kunai. “I have begun my preparations for such a scenario.”</p><p>Itsuki chuckled. “You are terrifyingly smart for a child of your age, and terrifyingly calculating too.”</p><p>“But that’s why you love me the most,” she said proudly, folding her arms as she sat back, basking in the joy of her oldest brother’s attention. <em>She liked to think Itsuki considered her his favourite sibling. </em>Not only was she both the youngest and the sole female sibling he had, but she was by far the most adorable.</p><p>Plus there was the added fact she’d never smeared mud into his wonderfully silky pink locks, unlike her two idiot brothers. She knew better than to poke the sickly lion. Itsuki was utterly terrifying when he was in a rage – mainly because he’d already mastered the art of smiling during those moments when happiness was the furthest thing from his mind. He was like their mother in that way, and the way he tended to mother hen them all.</p><p>He pinched the end of her nose once gently before letting go. “Don’t tell the other two that.”</p><p>“What they don’t know won’t hurt them,” she mumbled, hugging her brother once more, her eyes drooping as the sky darkened. Kousuke scented her weakness like blood in the water, and he was on her like a shark.</p><p>“Imouto, can we end your birthday party already?” He yawned. “Tired.”</p><p>Sakura raised an eyebrow, fighting the urge to yawn as well. “I sat through <em>all </em>of yours, and it went on until the moon was high in the sky.” She crossed her arms. “You should extend the courtesy, nii-san.”</p><p>Kousuke squinted at her. “Cour-Courtes-y?”</p><p>Sakura sniggered at him. He was adorable, and sometimes made her think of Naruto.</p><p>“You and your big words,” Kousuke muttered, sticking out his tongue. “You’re mean, and super boring, Saku-chan. I thought you loved me the most.”</p><p>Sakura refused to stick out her tongue – unlike her brother she was not a child in mind – so she went for the next best thing and covertly stuck up her middle finger at him. “Don’t care… ‘sides Suki-nii is the best.”</p><p>Kousuke pouted. “I’m telling kaa-chan you swore!”</p><p>He turned, running off towards their mother, and Sakura only turned to face her eldest brother, elbowing him pointedly in the side. “Anija?”</p><p>Itsuki chuckled at her antics. “I saw nothing, Sakura dearest.”</p><p>“Too right you didn’t.”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Growing Pains</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Where are you off to?” Itsuki raised an eyebrow at her as she rushed past him, leaping off the engawa with a giggle.</p><p>“Exploring, anija!” she exclaimed, making her way towards the forestlands surrounding their clan compound. “I wanna find new places. Kaa-chan already made me promise I wouldn’t go too far – I won’t even leave our borders!”</p><p>“See that you don’t, imouto,” he said, expression serious, and Sakura sighed. Even as they’d both grown up, Itsuki had only grown more protective – especially after the miscarries their mother had upon trying to give them some more siblings.</p><p>Though it wasn’t as if his worries were baseless. More among their number had vanished, whether killed or stolen away for their oh-so precious kekkei genkai. Haruno were hunted there, and she was consciously aware of that fact. It was why she needed to get stronger, and as quickly as possible too. She was the daughter of the main lineage, and she had a duty to her clan.</p><p>She didn’t want her clan to die out as it had in the tales told to her by her parents. She didn’t want to lose her new brothers. She didn’t want to be the helpless little girl ever again. It was why she had cut her hair, a promise to herself that she would become strong. Frowning, Sakura thumbed a lock of pink hair caught in her hand. She wouldn’t be cutting it again.</p><p>Instead she was going to become strong enough so that she wouldn’t need to cut her hair. She would have it loose and running down her back, just like the two greatest shinobi of the era she was in. Though if Sakura was being honest, she wasn’t exactly sure when <em>then </em>was. The Haruno Clan lived in a sparsely populated place, and from what Sakura had learnt there were very few villages and clans around – including her own clan there were a total of five nearby, and there was one they were very much at odds with. Being in that quiet place meant it was hard to hear information from the Land of Fire to the south, so Sakura had no idea whether Hashirama and Madara were currently fighting or whether they had even been born yet. All she knew was that Konoha had not been formed yet, and likely wouldn’t for a while yet.</p><p>Gingerly, Sakura ventured into the forest, hating the fact she wasn’t a sensor type as she ventured towards the sound of trickling waters quite some distance away. <em>Maybe she could swim for a short while? </em>she mused, tilting her head as she reached the small stream after ten minutes of walking.</p><p>Chakra enhanced hearing really was powerful.</p><p>The little stream gurgled over the shiny, smooth rocks, shallow but wide enough that she could jump in and out to get her feet soaked. The sun shimmered off the waters, and Sakura sighed as she wondered what she could do then and there to entertain herself. It wasn’t like there were a lot of board games to play, nor did television exist. The only real thing she could do was practice her shinobi skills, and Itsuki had already shooed her away from the clan training grounds. He was terribly insistent on ensuring she had time to play. Something about her being a child and children weren’t supposed to spend all their time focusing on how best to tear people apart.</p><p>Sakura sniffed at the thought. <em>She was also relearning how to stitch people back together in her smaller body. </em>Sighing, she pushed the thought of chakra exhaustion to one side – she’d come far too close to such a state a few too many times for her and her brother’s liking. <em>Maybe that was why Itsuki-nii watched her like a hawk for most of the day? </em>It was either him, father, mother, or Raiden-nii who kept an eye on her, partially because they were worried about her being kidnapped, and partially because they had all seemingly witnessed the fact she was a workaholic.</p><p>
  <em>Or maybe it was because days after her birthday, she’d had a breakthrough with her light seal, and she’d been so happy and eager that by the time she’d stumbled back it was midnight and she’d been grinning like a moron with dark bags under her eyes as she’d chirped, “I did it!”</em>
</p><p>Shaking her head, Sakura snorted. That was probably it.</p><p>Ever since then her parents and siblings had kept a closer eye on her, meaning there were very few opportunities to sneak away. Still, her minimal knowledge of sealing was now out in the open, and she was fairly sure she would soon be hailed as a prodigy. <em>Not least because she had managed to keep a fish alive out of water the last time Itsuki-nii had taken her fishing.</em></p><p><em>The looks that had earnt her from the others there…</em> A smile broke out on her face. She had already made it clear to her immediate family that she intended to go into the medical side of things. Though it didn’t mean she was planning on slacking off in her combat training. Her situational awareness was coming along—</p><p>A stone slammed into her forehead, hitting her smack bang in the centre where the diamond had once sat.</p><p>“Oww!” Sakura yelped, rubbing at the sore spot, eyes darting up to find the person who’d thrown it. “What was that for?” she demanded, heart racing as she noticed how close the other girl was. Sakura was only thankful the other girl looked to be a similar age to herself. She probably would have been dead already if it had been an adult, or at least injured, given how she was capable of healing herself.</p><p>Silvery hair rustled in the light breeze drifting from upstream, dark grey eyes locking on her own – so dark they might as well have been black. She wore loose clothing much like Sakura’s own. A shirt with some simple shorts reaching her knobbly knees.</p><p>They were practically the same as her own outwear, only hers were coloured a dark green whilst the other girl’s were a deep, navy blue.</p><p>“I did call out to you,” the girl said, giggling all the while as though she hadn’t just trampled over all of Sakura’s training and instincts. <em>Three and a bit years of being coddled had evidently taken its toll. </em>Sakura wouldn’t let herself repeat that mistake. “Not my fault you’re an idiot.”</p><p>Sakura felt her eye twitch as she leapt to her feet. “You take that back!” she demanded, pointing a finger at the other girl, a snarl on her lips even as the other girl planted her feet and smiled at her – a big beaming grin which had the hairs on the back of her neck standing on end.</p><p>“Nope!” the other girl declared joyously.</p><p>“I was just thinking, you moron!” Sakura said, teeth bared. “Clearly I have more going on upstairs than you – you braindead imbecile.”</p><p>Laughing, the other girl simply smiled wider. “Maybe.”</p><p>Sakura blinked, peering at the girl on the opposite bank as though she had just discovered a newly mutated strain of bacteria. “What the hell is wrong with you?” she muttered, <em>because she’d definitely just insulted the girl right back but she didn’t seem angry in the slightest.</em></p><p>“People ask me that a lot,” the girl said, tilting her head as those black eyes continued to bore into her dazzling green set. “Dunno why. Anyway, my name’s Akahana. Wanna be friends?”</p><p>“Huh?”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Childhood Friendships</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Snowy trees whistled in the wind, the clean river continuing to gurgle over the pebbles as the pair of them stood there, each on either side of the rushing stream of water.</p><p>Sakura blinked, staring at the girl on the riverbank opposite her, confusion plastered over her face as she stared at the strange girl. <em>Akahana. </em>She tilted her head, sizing up the other girl who was just as young as her. More importantly though, <em>she didn’t want anything from her, unlike the other children in her clan. The ones pushed towards her by their parents or grandparents in order to gain a better standing within the clan. </em>Turning her head to the side, ignoring those pleading puppy-dog eyes, she nodded. “I suppose I could tolerate you being my friend,” she remarked, almost flinching when she spotted the relieved smile on Akahana’s face. “But stop smiling that. It’s creepy.”</p><p>“Oh,” Akahana mumbled, scratching at the back of her silvery head of hair, smiling dimming in brightness somewhat. “I’m just happy. No one’s ever agreed to be my friend like this before… They usually only wanted something from me.”</p><p>Sakura knew the feeling. Maybe that was why she wound up hurrying over the water to pat her new friend on the back – the only source of comfort and reassurance she could think to give the girl… She doubted they were close enough for hugs, given they’d only just met.</p><p>Eyes lingered on her feet, and how they splashed over the water, but the sharpness in those dark grey eyes vanished in an instant. “We probably shouldn’t share our last names,” Akahana said, and Sakura was once again reminded exactly what time period she was stuck in as she plonked herself on the bank next to her new pseudo-friend.</p><p>“Sakura,” she drawled, patting the ground next to her. “So… what you doing out here then? Aside from being a complete imbecile and throwing rocks at me?”</p><p>Akahana pouted at that. “I was just trying to get your attention!” she said, folding her arms. “’Sides, if you’re gonna be a shinobi, then you hafta have good spatial awareness. That’s what tou-san always says to me.”</p><p>“I’m not a shinobi <em>yet</em>,” Sakura muttered, keeping a mental note to not mention the name <em>Haruno </em>in any of her conversations. “That’s OK to share, isn’t it?” she mused, stomach knotting as she pondered over what she could tell her new friend. The Warring Clans Era ran by such a different set of unspoken rules compared to the ones before he death and subsequent rebirth-and-time-travel shenanigans.</p><p>“Mm.” Akahana nodded. “I mean… it’s not like we should talk ‘bout this to our families,” she said, flopping back on the snowy banks, staring at the sky. “We’d get in really big trouble if we did.”</p><p>“Mm.” Sakura grunted in agreement, lying back next to her new friend, green clashing with dark grey as she stared at the other girl. They stared at each other then for a few moments, and then Sakura found herself giggling along with Akahana, and she felt strangely giddy and excited at the prospect of having a <em>secret </em>friend. Really, Sakura blamed it on the impulses of her childish body.</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>Itsuki was the one to welcome her back as she climbed back up the hill which she’d descended to meet Akahana, her new friend. <em>Probably her only friend outside her family, if she really thought about it</em>. Their Clan Compound was on elevated ground, and Sakura was fairly sure they were partway up a mountain. It was one of five mountains in a ring, which was usually referred to as ‘The Ring’, and according to the map sources, and the testimonies of most of the Haruno Clan, each mountain was home to a different clan. At the current moment in time, Sakura knew there was an unspoken truth – though admittedly Itsuki had spoken it aloud to tell her as such – and it was that no clan intruded on another’s mountain. It was an uneasy, unspoken rule, which had been broken plenty of times in the past, but it was holding for the time being. <em>Because to break it and intrude in another clan’s safe space would mean war. </em>Inevitably, some idiot would occasionally trample over that rule, provoking old grudges and stirring up feuds that Sakura thought ought to have remained buried forever.</p><p>Naruto had influenced her plenty. It was just a shame, Sakura mused, that he wasn’t there to help her or her clan. He had still been alive when she passed, and she highly doubted the likelihood of whatever had happened to her happening again. Naruto would have been so much better at figuring out how to inspire unity amongst the clans she was apparently surrounded by.</p><p>“Did you get up to much mischief out there?” her brother asked, raising one pink brow as he sat there, placing the reading materials he had been so engrossed in to one side.</p><p>Sakura gave her big brother an impish smile, tapping a finger to her chin as she tilted her head mischievously. “Maybe?” she offered playfully, squealing in delight when he opened up his arms in the universal come-hither-and-hug-me. Sakura obliged him. She always did. He was her precious big brother – and she loved him for it. She hadn’t had any of those in her life before, and so obviously she was simply making the most of his company.</p><p>After all, she now lived in the era known as the Warring Clans Era, when life expectancy was that much shorter, and children were killed by the dozens. Sakura only knew she was lucky there was relatively little child hunting in the area she lived in. Children’s blood spilt for hundreds of years by her ancestors had brought that about. <em>It had made five clans less likely to kill other’s children, simply because they knew their own children would subsequently be killed in retaliation. </em></p><p>Adults could do more damage than children, so it was a small price to pay, so long as the unspoken trespassing rule wasn’t broken. There were more threats than the four clans surrounding them. Only, despite those little nuances of life in the snowy mountain range, Sakura was fairly sure her clan was dying. It was slow, but undeniably present sensation – what with her knowledge of what the future held for the Haruno Clan.</p><p>She had already vowed to do what she could to change her clan’s fate, and when she snuggled into her brother’s chest, she knew it was the right thing to do.</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>Her room was small, given she was the daughter of the Clan Head, and the sole window was even smaller. Sakura supposed the point was that nobody could enter via there. It made sense, given she was young and female. Sadly, that last point made her that much more likely of a target for kidnapping to claim their bloodline.</p><p>She couldn’t wait until she had grasped more control over her too small body. Nobody would stand a chance once she grew into her new body. It was something she couldn’t speed up, and it rather irritated her. <em>Because people didn’t take her seriously when she tried to do things. </em>They just thought of her as a cute, smart little girl.</p><p>“Another dawn, a new day,” she muttered, splashing the water in the small wooden bucket over her face.</p><p>“Breakfast!” her mother’s voice echoed up the stairs, and Sakura perked up, chakra-enhanced nose picked up the scent of grilled fish and rice, coupled with a few others she couldn’t quite distinguish. The sound of feet slapping against the wooden floor had her sliding open her door just in time to catch Kousuke hurrying down.</p><p>Raiden blinked at her then from his room opposite, acknowledging her with a short nod before languidly padding out into the corridor, following Kousuke at a much more sedate pace. “Come on,” Itsuki spoke, yawning as he appeared in the corridor then. “Breakfast will get cold if we linger here too long.”</p><p>“I know,” Sakura mumbled, concealing a yawn as she mulled over what she would be doing that day. <em>Probably something to do with chakra manipulation. </em>Plus, she now had a friend to visit. Dimly, Sakura hoped Akahana would be by the river again that day, shaking her head at the childish <em>want </em>to sneak away to see her friend again.</p>
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